Crack in the Pavement
Chapter 6
Awkwardness and fluff shall continue below.
Reviewers, as always, you make my day.
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers; I'm just prostituting it for my amusement.
Summary: Megatron uses Ironhide to get his revenge on Prime. Multiple minor side pairings, see list in fic.
Warning: Graphic rape. Torture. M/M robot slash consensual as well as NON-CON
Pairings: Non-con Megatron/ Ironhide, Con Optimus/ Ironhide. Established Jazz/ Prowl, Twins/ Ratchet, Mirage/ Cliffjumper
He just didn't have enough energy. Ratchet had welded closed several of the long gashes in Ironhide's armour but there were so many more to do. But he didn't have the energy; Ratchet vented in a mixture of weariness and impotent rage. In the countless hours he had been working on Ironhide, his patient's levels had stabilized. Ironhide was still in stasis but Ratchet had medicated him in order to make sure he stayed that way. Ratchet would not wean Ironhide off those meds until every single injury was fully repaired. He would have enough to deal with, the mental wounds Ratchet could do nothing for; Ratchet would not leave him with physical wounds as well. For the hours Ratchet needed to take to recharge and regain his equilibrium, Ironhide's own internal repair systems would set to work on a number of the remaining gashes, when Ratchet returned he would finish the repairs. Most of them had been open for at least as long as Ironhide had been captive and they had begun to fester, rusting around the edges. It was nothing Ratchet couldn't take care of but it took that much more time and effort to repair each injury.
Ratchet rubbed his faceplates, right between his optics and looked across his medbay to his other patient. Before he recharged, Ratchet realized he needed to take full stock of the damage so he could mentally prepare for what he needed to repair. He walked over to Prowl's berth and carefully turned Prowl over so he could see the damage at the joint of the doorwing. Okay, it was bad. But it was not the worst doorwing injury Ratchet had seen. The individual scratches had all been patched by First Aid and Swoop. Prowl would not suffer any ill affects being kept offline for even another day, though Ratchet didn't plan on leaving off repairing him for even that long.
"Ratch," Sunstreaker said as the medbay doors, which had been locked, slid open with a hiss of air. "You need to refuel."
"I need to do a lot of things," Ratchet grumbled. Oh yes he needed to refuel but he didn't have the energy to go to the common room. He didn't have the energy to face all the questions. He didn't have the energy to face Optimus who would demand a full account of what happened to Ironhide, all the while Optimus would probably be just a step away from going into stasis for energy depletion.
"We brought it with us," Sideswipe said, breaking Ratchet from his thoughts.
"We know you don't want to leave them," Sunstreaker said. "You're going to recharge in your office, we know. But we're going to stay with you until you've finished refuelling and are actually going to recharge."
Ratchet stared at them for a long moment. He didn't have the energy to deal with them, but they seemed to know that. So Ratchet allowed himself to be led to his office. The Twins steered him away from his desk and had him sit on the small berth he kept in his office. Sideswipe pushed the cube of energon into his hands before sitting on the far end of the berth, against the wall. Sunstreaker sat at the foot of the berth, watching Ratchet intently.
The medic felt his cables tense under the scrutiny. He raised the cube to his mouth and drank slowly. Neither of the Twins spoke, and Ratchet finished the cube quickly. Now that he had stopped moving, his joints were starting to complain bitterly. Ratchet vented and moved to discard the cube and maybe stretch out some of his creaky joints.
"Turn and face Sides," Sunstreaker said. Ratchet must have been worn out because he did as he was told without argument. He crossed his legs and slunk forward, resting his arms on his legs, but only for a minute. Sideswipe reached forward and removed his chassis armour. Silencing any complaints Ratchet was preparing to make, Sunstreaker set to work kneading and massaging all the aching joints along his back and shoulders. Sideswipe took on of his arms and began massaging that.
As they massaged the ache and tension from Ratchet's protoform, the medic relaxed more and more until he felt himself go limp against Sideswipe, unconsciously, unfolding his legs and partially curling on to his side. Now Sideswipe rubbed his helm and Ratchet slipped soundlessly into recharge. Even as he recharged, Sideswipe rubbed Ratchet's neck and head in small circles. Sunstreaker slipped off the berth and rested his arms on it, watching Ratchet recharge. Eventually, the brothers left Ratchet to his rest and made their way back to their own quarters.
Soundwave returned to the secret base with his Casseticons tucked safely into his tape deck. He walked right into chaos. He entered the mountain lair through the cliff side entrance. The door did not respond to his codes, so he used the manual override to force his way inside. Soundwave found that the halls were only dimly lit. The lights glowed a pale green, these were the lights powered by the back up generators. Something must have happened while he was gone. The question was whether or not this was the Seekers doing or the Autobots. As unpleasant a prospect as it was, Soundwave went straight to the command deck.
"Soundwave!" Megatron roared. If he had been Starscream, or really any other Decepticon, Soundwave would have flinched and cowered but Soundwave did neither. He stood still and straight and looked back at Megatron's contorted faceplates with a mask of impassiveness. Soundwave felt his Casseticons bristle in his tape deck. Over the relay they all shared, he quieted them.
"Where have you been?" Megatron demanded.
"Collecting my Casseticons," Soundwave replied. "They could not possibly make it back here on their own without being followed so I retrieved them myself."
It was flawless logic. Whether it would calm Megatron or make him slag him, Soundwave couldn't say.
"You left your post without filling it," Megatron growled and stalked closer to Soundwave.
"Who could have filled it, My Lord?" Soundwave asked. He choose his words carefully. "You expressly forbade Starscream from entering the security room. Even if his Trinemates were acceptable replacements for me, they were needed on patrol. Would you have preferred I put Runabout and Runamuck in charge of security? The systems should have worked perfectly. But even then the cameras could not have spotted the Towers spy."
"Oh course!" Megatron exclaimed. "Let every Decepticon know I want that Towers mech in pieces!"
Every Decepticon in the room nodded obediently. Megatron scowled darker as the emergency lights flickered.
"And get the Constructicons back here immediately," Megatron order. "I will recapture Ironhide and I was destroy every one of you if he escapes again."
"Yes, Lord Megatron," Starscream replied.
There was something about his tone that was off to Soundwave's sensitive audios. Oh there was fear. Starscream only ever referred to Megatron as Lord when Megatron's temper was up and he couldn't afford to be insubordinate. This fear sounded different though. He had reason to fear more than a quick death after, finally, going too far. The death that awaited Starscream would be slow, brutal, and worse than anything any of them would have imagined before these last months when Megatron had turned from tyrant to madman. There was no doubt in Soundwave's processor that Skywarp had not dropped that Autobot in the desert of his own accord. Soundwave doubted just as much that the idea came from Thundercracker. The blue and black Seeker was certainly more clever that his crazed mate but he was too cautious to do something so brash without prodding. Starscream was obviously the one at the centre of this plan. But a plan like this, one that would damn them all to the Pit by Megatron's hand, Starscream couldn't have just ordered them to participate. Whatever had inspired Starscream to act had effected his Trinemates as well.
Soundwave had had no idea what Megatron had been doing with the prisoner since Ironhide's capture. He had expected to be called to probe the Autobot's mind but Megatron had kept Soundwave going back and forth between the sea fortress and the mountain lair, even forcing him to leave Rumble behind manning Soundwave's station. Certainly, Soundwave had found it strange. Megatron had always kept him close. It had been disquieting at times, especially once Soundwave had peered into Megatron's processor and found that he was the Decepticon leader's type. The specific thought that his defect, his Casseticons, had been the only thing that had made him truly unpalatable had disturbed not just himself but also his Casseticons. He had forced himself to look into Megatron's processor from time to time to confirm that he remained undesirable to Megatron. Had Megatron just been keeeping him in favour because he may have, eventually, found the need to relieve those urge with Soundwave? The thought was... nauseating.
Whatever the case may have been, Soundwave was out of favour now. It disturbed him only that Soundwave was not certain what he should do to keep from falling any further out of favour and ending up in the line of fire. He would wait for orders. That was all he could do. Perhaps, when Megatron's temper cooled, he would order Soundwave to spy on the Autobots so Ironhide could be recaptured. Megatron had miscalculated. He probably thought that Soundwave would be fearful of angering him, and to a degree Soundwave was fearful but he was far more angry than he was afraid. Megatron would rue the day he dismissed the value of Soundwave's Casseticons so callously.
"Do you think he's buying it as an Autobot attack?" Thundercracker asked. All three of the Command Trine's members were seated in Thundercracker's and Skywarps berth room. No one thought to plant bugs here. No one wanted to listen to the pair. Starscream had been careful to make it known how much he hated being in there with him so no one would have suspected that this was where they conspired against Megatron.
"He wants the Towers spy's head on a platter," Starscream said. "I think he's buying it. Soundwave may or may not be suspicious. I can't read that stone faced glitch. He never lets down his mask or visor. So keep your thoughts as unappealing as possible just in case he takes a peak."
"Can do," Skywarp said, smiling very slightly. "If we're done, I want to enjoy playing with Thundercracker."
"Ack," Starscream choked. "I'm leaving."
"Warp," Thundercracker scolded.
"Mine," Skywarp replied, completely uncowed, and wrapped his arms around Thundercracker's waist. He opened his own spark chamber, hoping Thundercracker would offer him the comfort that could only come from merging their sparks. Thundercracker smiled gently and opened his spark chamber, merging their sparks together quickly.
Ratchet woke alone. For a brief moment it felt strange. He had spent most of the nights of his life alone, but in the last few months he had never woken alone. The Twins were always there. Of course he hadn't wanted them in this small berth last night. Wait. It hadn't been night when he'd slept, had it? It had been well into the afternoon. And that was after only having slept a few hours before the beacon had gone off. Ironhide's "rescue" worried him. There was no way in Primus's name that Ironhide got out to that desert himself, not even if he had been trapped even a few metres away from the spot they found him in. No one knew better what a mech's body was capable of than Ratchet, and Ratchet knew that Ironhide couldn't have even crawled. Did Megatron do something to Ironhide's processor, erase it some how? Was that why they'd released him? Primus, he hoped not. Ironhide was the toughest mech Ratchet knew. If anyone could survive what Ratchet knew Ironhide had gone through, Ironhide could, as long as Ironhide was still in there.
Ironhide was still in there. Ratchet repeated this to himself over and over as he dragged himself off his small berth. A cup of energon was sitting on his desk. The Twins. Did they really want to bond to him? Jazz said they did and he had no reason to lie. So they probably did. Jazz had mentioned it probably out of annoyance and in an attempt to help the Twins. He could try and pretend Jazz hadn't mentioned it. Ratchet considered his options had he drained the cube. But if they'd said something to Jazz, then they were probably planning to confront Ratchet with the idea soon.
So what could he do? For the time being, he avoided them. Ratchet had a good excuse, his patients. They didn't know anything remotely close to what had actually happened to Ironhide and inquisitive as they were, they would want to know. It was another reason to avoid them until things settled back to normal. Then... then Ratchet would have figured out if he wanted to bond with them or not.
Enough. It was time to see to his patients.
End Chapter 6
A/N a shorter-ish chapter, it felt right to cut it off here.